Introduction to democracy Introduction:Democracy has now become the universal term describing the best political system. We have analyzed democracy in a different way with its history and effects. We tried to find the answer to the question that how democracy is or not good for Pakistan. Stable and strong countries try to impose their ideology on undeveloped countries.
Terminology:The term originates from the Greek dēmokratía "rule of the people", which was coined from dêmos "people" and kratos "power" in the 5th century BCE to denote the political systems then existing in Greek city-states, notably Athens; the term is an antonym to "rule of an elite." The English word dates to the 16th century, from the older Middle French and Middle Latin equivalents.
Definition:As far as definition of democracy is concerned, there is no universally accepted definition of democracy. Democracy has long been among the most contested concepts in political science as well as political philosophy, and a universally accepted view of democracy is yet to be obtained Every nation defines it in its own way. A commonly known definition is: "A system of government by the whole population or all the eligible members of a state, typically through elected representatives."
Report port 2002, the United Nations Development Program In its Human Development Re defined democracy as: "A political system that enables people to freely choose an effective, honest, transparent and accountable government."
It is also defined as: "Government of the People or Government of the Majority."
Another definition is: "Democracy is a form of government in which all eligible citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Democracy allows eligible citizens to participate equally — either directly or through elected representatives — in the proposal, development, and creation of laws."
These were some famous definitions of democracy.
Types of Democracy:There are many different types of democracy with respect to different aspects. According to basic form of government there are two basic types known as;
Basic forms
Direct
Representative
Parliamentary
Presidential
Constitutional
Hybrid
Direct
Direct democracy is a political system where the citizens participate in the decision-making personally, contrary to relying on intermediaries or representatives. Representative
Representative democracy involves the selection of government officials by the people being represented. If the head of state is also democratically elected then it is called a democratic republic. The most common mechanisms involve election of the candidate with a majority or a plurality of the votes. Parliamentary
Parliamentary democracy is a representative democracy. Under a parliamentary democracy, government is exercised by delegation to an executive ministry and subject to ongoing review, checks and balances by the legislative parliament elected by the people.
Presidential:-
Presidential Democracy is a system where the public elects the president through free and fair elections. The president serves as both the head of state and head of government controlling most of the executive powers. Constitutional:-
A constitutional democracy is a representative democracy in which the ability of the elected representatives to exercise decision-making power is subject to the rule of law, and usually moderated by a constitution that emphasizes the protection of the rights and freedoms of individuals. Hybrid:-
Some modern democracies that are predominately representative in nature also heavily rely upon forms of political action that are directly democratic. These democracies, which combine elements of representative democracy and direct democracy. Systematic understanding to democracy:Democracy has long been among the most contested concepts in political science as well as political philosophy, and a universally accepted view of democracy is yet to be obtained, though it exists in virtually all types of states and in almost every region of the world.
Not only that, the existing democracies in the world differ from each other in the extent to which they approach the goals of democratization and make the task of finding an ideal model of democracy. A democratic government contrasts to forms of government where power is either held by one, as in a monarchy, or where power is held by a small number of individuals, as in an oligarchy. Nevertheless, these oppositions, inherited from Greek philosophy, are now ambiguous because contemporary governments have mixed democratic, oligarchic, and monarchic elements. Karl Popper defined democracy in contrast to dictatorship or tyranny, thus focusing on opportunities for the people to control their leaders and to oust them without the need for a revolution.
History of democracy:-
Some scholars believe that democracy was first practiced in Mesopotamia. The history of democracy traces back from classical Athens in the 6th century B.C. to the present day. Present day democracy is a western oriented concept.
Role of Democracy in struggle for Pakistan and Two Nation Theory:If we analyze the democracy (as we have defined before it is simply rule of majority) the political system of India was actually anti-Muslim. From the very beginning of two nation theory it can be observed that Hindus were trying establishing superiority on Muslims. When they encountered Muslims in politics, they were unable to accept their identical and ideological difference. Quid-e-Azam was able to predict that what would be the future of Muslims if they are going live with Hindus Quid-e-Azam was observing that Hindus were trying to establish ram raj on behalf of democracy. This is actually the democracy which ensures the majority religion, culture or language to take over the identity of minorities.
Practical failure of Democracy in Pakistan:In Pakistan political institutions are not morally and practically effective. Still democratic government is unable to establish good governance, rule of law and a good foreign policy. This is clear indication that unfortunately democracy is not best for Pakistan.
Failure of Democracy in Pakistan
Causes of Failure:Democracy can be defined as the government of the people by the people and for the people. It is an ideal form of the government in which all the strata of the population has great say in the internal and external affairs of the country. Significance of the democracy can be gauged from the fact that in the countries where it works and exists full well, they have well organized or disciplined states before and mostly peaceful political, social weather is prevailed so farm. However, it is rather unfortunate that democracy is derailed every now and again since the inception of Pakistan by dint of certain causes. Bad governance is the first and the foremost reason responsible behind the non-delivering of the democracy in the country. It is the bad governance that had been paving the way for the emergence of military regime after the establishment of Pakistan. Furthermore, mass illiteracy and feudal system being both present in the country, the democracy is reduced to an empty show. Lack of democracy has pushed th e country into a vicious circle by landing it into the state
of quandary and arising multidimensional crises on the surface. Due to weak democracy, the character of Pakistan has been blackening in the world comity and putting the national integration at stake. In short, lack of democracy, eats up into the vitals of the nation by plunging it in the state of uncertain. Therefore, good governance should be restored to deliver democracy or true democratic system in the country. Literary rate should be raised in the multitudes to make them politically educated. Democracy is the only solution to the internal or external problems of the country and is the only way whereby the nation can attain positive amendment or amelioration by all accounts.[9]
Bad political culture To begin with, after the demise of the Father of the Nation, QUID E AZAM Pakistan had been becoming the barren and sterile in the terms of leadership. Politics became a bad game o r an effective means to promote vested interests. Just after t he getting independence, corruption soon took hold of t he society. The Rehabilitation Department accepted the fake c laims of the Muslims coming from across the Indian border that gave stimulus to the force s of bribery and other social vices. In the sequel, justice became a rare commodity in the Pakistan's society and paralyzed people had to purchase justice through bribery. The Muslim league fell a prey to internecine intrigues that gave birth to the political and economic scramble. All of the above gifts of bad governance had been making the avenue for the emergence of the military government. Thus, in 1957 for the first time Material Law took place and democracy was derailed. In this wise, delay in the constitution making played a paramount part to non delivering of democracy in Pakistan in the early years. The case of India can positively and sufficiently be mentioned in this manner. The democracy has dug its roots deep in India because the constitution there was enacted soon after its establishment that resulted in democratic process by making India a well democratic state. In Pakistan, however, the constitution making body became a tool in t he hands of the knavish politicians who were engaged in palace intrigues making and dissolving the cabinets. The sacred or prime task of framing a workable constitution was thus crucified at the altar of power politics which ultimately leaded to the derailing of democracy in the country.
Feudalism Feudalism is one of the greatest barriers responsible behind the failure of democracy in Pakistan to a large extent. Institutions can not work freely or independently in the presence of feudalism. Moreover, in feudalistic societies democracy represents a specific group of society that is ruling class that is why democracy never delivers in Pakistan. Feudal system stops the way of new leadership which comes from gross root level by perpetuating its hold and rule, so the existence of workable and true democracy in the presence of feudalism is not at cards. Similarly, illiteracy fosters mediocrity. Much of Pakistan's inhabitants are illiterate and live below the line of poverty or squalor. In fact, democracy is reduced to an empty show if the citizens or the multitudes behave like dumb driven cattle and develop crowd mentality of being driven which every way the leader direct. On the other hand, illiterate masses can hardly select a solemn candidate for themselves on t he
confidence of their own. They hardly think out of t he four walls of their village so that t hey choose the leader what their landlord chooses often. Therefore, m ass illiteracy reduces the standard of the democracy by choosing shaky leadership.[10]
lack of responsibility Besides it, lack of sense of responsibility and self-aggrandizement among the politicians and the ruling class, corruption, terrorism, unemployment, economic inequality, favoritism in politics and other social injustice have reduced the confidence of t he masses and the classes from ruling class. Even coming government is shackled with its interests of own and no any relief delivers to the poor or indigents. Therefore, the name of democracy is reduced to its name only.
Role of Media Imbalance role of media has not put any good show to make Pakistan a democratic state by favoring the rulers frequently. The media is the gre atest source whereby the people can know truth of every thing, so the media of the present is a great propaganda missionary. However, in our country it is always utilized as a weapon. Since the birth of the Pakistan it has been dancing to the tune of ruling regime. The masses can not express themselves according to their wants. Thus, democratically process is there hardly experienced. All of that have made democracy ineffective in Pakistan. That is why democracy is merely named here not in working.
Education Unless the people are educated and use their votes intelligently, democracy can never prosper and run smoothly in the county. One of the reasons of co nstitution’s weakness in Pakistan is vast uneducated and uniformed electorate. Aristotle has rightly remarked: “To neglect the education of the young o nes, is to weaken the constitution of the country”. Democracy is a function of education. It can not be managed effectively and justly without sound education of the voters and their high level of information.
Dictatorship As we have described in political history of P akistan that Dictatorship has also failed for Pakistan. A Dictatorship is a form of government wherein t he political power resides with the military. This is not a proper political system. Job of military is not Politics.
Language and area differences in Pakistan Punjab is Pakistan's second largest province by area and largest by population Punjabi (
) is spoken as a first language by more than 44% of Pakistanis, mostly in Punjab. When
taking into account Hindko, Potwari, Pahari, Saraiki, Punjabi dialects are thus spoken by almost 60% of the population in Pakistan The main languages in the province are Balochi, which is spoken in the sparsely populated west, east, south and south-east, Pashto in the north and north-west and Br ahui in the centre. Sindhī (Arabic script:
) is spoken by more than 35 million people(in 2011) in the province of
Sindh. Urdu ,Pashto in Khaiber Pakhtikha is also spoken in Pakistan. As we can observe there are many cultural and linguistic differences in Pakistan unlike western democratic countries where culture is quite uniform. How present Democracy is not suitable:-
Democracy is either economically inefficient, politically idealistic or morally corrupt. Democracy is simply rule of majority.
Irrational voters Free-market-oriented economists since Milton Friedman have strongly criticized the efficiency of democracy. They base this on the argument that voters are irrational, among other things. Their criticism towards democracy is that voters are highly uninformed about many political issues, especially relating to economics, and have a strong bias about the few issues on which they are fairly knowledgeable.[14] The masses are not adequately educated to be able to foresee the betterment of the community they belong to, and therefore are unable to cast a vote to that effect. But given the right to vote, an uneducated man would certainly cast a vote which will mor e likely be wrong as affected by the personality charisma of the candidate or some other superficial reasons. An ordinary voter may also be lured into casting a vote on the basis of financial help or some other petty promises.
Efficiency of the system Chicago economist Donald Wittman has written numerous works attempting to counter these common views of his colleagues. He argues democracy is efficient based on the premise of rational voters, competitive elections, and relatively low political transactions costs. Economist Bryan Caplan argues, while Wittman makes strong arguments for the latter two points, he cannot overcome the insurmountable evidence in favor of voter irrationality.[15]
Wealth disparity This could result in a wealth disparity in such a country, or even racial discrimination. Fierlbeck (1998) points out that such a result is not necessarily due to a failing in the democratic process, but rather, "because democracy is too responsive to the desires of a large middle class increasingly willing to disregard the muted voices of economically marginalized groups within its own borders."[3] The criticism remains that the will of the democratic majority may not always be in the best interest of all citizens within the country or beneficial to the future of the country itself.
Uncontested good Additionally, some political scientists question the notion that democracy is an "uncontested good."[7] If we base our critique on the definition of democracy as governance based on the will of the majority, there can be some foreseeable consequences to this form of rule.
Cyclical theory of government Machiavelli put forth the idea that democracies will tend to cater to the whims of the people, who then follow false ideas to entertain themselves, squander their re serves, and do not deal with potential threats to their rule until it is too late to oppose them. He put forth a cyclical theory of gover nment where monarchies always decay into aristocracies t hat then decay into democracies, which decay into anarchy, then tyranny, then monarchy.
Political instability More recently, democracy is cr iticized for not offering enough political stability. As governments are frequently elected on and off there tend to be frequent changes in the policies of democratic countries both domestically and internationally. Even if a political party maintains power, vociferous, headline grabbing protests and harsh criticism from the mass media are often enough to force sudden, unexpected political change. Frequent policy changes with re gard to business and immigration are likely to deter investment and so hinder e conomic growth. For this reason, many people have put forward the idea that democracy is undesirable for a developing country in which economic growth and the reduction of poverty are top priority. [9] However, Downs argued that the political market works much the same way as the economic market, and that there could potentially be an equilibrium in the system because of democratic process. However, he eventually argued that imperfect knowledge in politicians and voters prevented the reaching of that equilibrium.
Oppression by the majority The constitutions of many countries have parts of them t hat restrict the nature of the types of laws that legislatures can pass. A fundamental idea behind some of these restr ictions is that the majority of a population and its elected legislature is often the source of minority persecutions, such as with racial discrimination.
Corruption within democratic governments This is a simple form of appealing to the short term interests of the voters. This tactic has been known to be heavily used in north and north-east region of Thailand. Another form is commonly called Pork barrel where local areas or political sec tors are given special benefits but whose costs are spread among all taxpayers.
Mere elections are just one aspect of the democratic process. Other tenets of democracy, like relative equality and freedom, are frequently absent in ostensibly democratic countries. Moreover, in many countries, democratic participation is less than 50 % at times, and it can be argued that election of individual(s) instead of ideas disrupts democracy.
Volatility/unsustainability The new establishment of democratic institutions in countries where the associated practices have as yet been uncommon or deemed c ulturally unacceptable, can result in institutions that are not sustainable in the long term. One circumstance supporting this outcome may be when it is part of the common perception among the populace that the institutions were established as a direct result of foreign pressure. This explains that democracy is not only causing problem for multicultural societies like P akistan, but also for some western countries having uniform culture.
Conclusion:-
Best political system for Pakistan Best political system for Pakistan is that which ensures the implementation and practice of ideology of Pakistan. If any country has a system (as USA) which ensures fulfillment of its ideology and reason then it is best for it. Democracy has failed in this for Pakistan. Ideology of Pakistan is Welfare Islamic state.
